Yamaha announced several months ago that they will be trying out a new V4 engine in MotoGP next year. It is the first time that the manufacturer will be fielding the configuration since MotoGP first signalled the start of four-stroke engines in 2002. However, it is not the first Yamaha V4 Grand Prix engine.
Just like what is happening now since Fabio Quartararo’s rider’s title in 2021, Yamaha’s GP efforts had lost their way in the early 1980s. The maker had won three world 500cc titles on the trot in 1978, 1979, and 1980 with ‘King’ Kenny Roberts onboard the Yamaha YZR500 OW48 inline-four two-stroke machine, but Suzuki had been close especially in 1980 with their rotary valved square four RG500.
So, Yamaha built their own rotary valved square four engine for the 1981 season, dubbed the OW60. But Suzuki improved their bike further and caused Roberts to finish third overall behind Suzuki riders Marco Lucchinelli and Randy Mamola.
Yamaha decided to take another route for 1982, this time with the OW61 V4. However, Roberts found it difficult to ride and he dropped to fifth in the championship. Legend has it that the OW61 was so bad that Yamaha’s race chief Mike Maekawa personally dumped the bikes into the crusher at the end of the season.
The factory introduced an improved OW70 V4 for 1983 and Roberts so nearly won his fourth title that year, only to lose by a mere 2 points to Freddie Spencer on the sweeter handling Honda NS500 V3.
“The Yamaha OW70 was the first GP bike to utilise Öhlins suspension.”
Frustrated, Roberts decided to retire but it was too soon because in 1984, Eddie Lawson was crowned champion on the new OW76, becoming the first V4 champion. Lawson would repeat the feat in 1986 and 1988.
Thus it became apparent to other makers that the V4 configuration is the best bet for power and chassis performance. Honda, Suzuki, Cagiva soon built their own V4 machines. This continued until the 500cc two-strokes were replaced by 990cc four-strokes in 2002.
Hence, if Roberts’ era was the war between Yamaha and Suzuki, Lawson’s era started the epic Honda vs. Yamaha war in 500cc GP. Freddie Spencer (Honda – 1985), Lawson (Yamaha – 1986, 1988, Honda – 1989), Wayne Gardner (Honda – 1987).
Come 1990, it was another American rider who would go on to be a GP legend on the Yamaha V4 GP bike: Wayne Rainey. He would win the title in 1990, 1991, and 1992 while battling his Suzuki arch rival, Kevin Schwantz on the Suzuki.
Rainey was on his way to his fourth consecutive title in 1993 but a crash at Misano caused him to be paralysed from the chest down.
Schwantz would take his only 500cc GP title that year.
“1993 was also the end of the Yamaha V4’s winning streak and they would not win another 500cc two-stroke title.”
The subsequent years from 1994 to 2001 saw Honda’s dominance of the championship with Mick Doohan (1994-1998), Alex Criville (1999), Valentino Rossi (who won 11 races in 2001). The only year when a Honda rider did not win the championship was in 2000 when Kenny Roberts, Jr. won on a Suzuki ).
“Yamaha’s next championship title would only materialise in 2004 when Valentino Rossi switched over from Honda.”
However, Yamaha had gone the inline-four route in MotoGP since the beginning in 2002, perhaps because they worked off the YZF-R1’s engine as the base. The R1 ruled the 1000cc superbike sales during the time, anyway, so Yamaha may have wanted to tie in the R1 to the YZR-M1 racebike.
They are the last manufacturer to switch to a V4 in MotoGP after Suzuki left the championship, amongst their rivals Ducati, Aprilia, KTM, and Honda who run V4 bikes. In any case, Yamaha has said that the performance of new V4 engine will be compared against the inline-four, and will only complete the changeover should the new engine perform better.
Let us see if the new engine will debut in the Winter Tests.
